Still Believing the Lie
We as humans, more often than not, think far more of ourselves than we ought!
We stroll or struggle through our days dealing from our own understandings and leaning on and in our own capabilities, complaining in failures and taking credit for any perceived victory we might stumble into. In our daily lives and selfish pursuits we inappropriately gain self-awareness and achieve in our own righteous indignation self-confidence.
Proverbs 3:5-6 shows what should be reflected in the lives and ways of the believer! 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him,and he will make straight paths. But what we often see describes the life of the nonbeliever! Sadly, it in detail tells the life story of many that claim the name of Christ.
In this time of great tragedies, we find this very prevalent in the places we call churches: Satan, in his continual efforts of deceiving and spreading confusion, has and does nourish the pride of mankind. The attributes of self-awareness is that upon which Anton Levay founded the so-called Church of Satan.
I remember an interview where Anton Levay stated he really didn’t worship Satan but that he considered himself to be his own god. His last words were recorded as, “Oh my, oh my, what have I done?”
The humanist Voltaire considered himself wise and was recorded, by the physician who waited up with him at his death, to have cried out with utter desperation, “I am abandoned by God and man. I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months of life, then I shall go to hell and you will go with me. Oh, Christ, oh, Jesus Christ!”
The man often proclaimed to be the father of humanism, Pythagoras, put forth the notion Homo mensura—that man is the standard. But Pythagoras was not the father of humanism—it was in fact the serpent in the tree in the garden of Eden, Satan! Humanism did not come at the creation of man; it came at the corruption of man in the garden.
Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. This is a short list of what the corruption of humanism reveals.
In Leviticus 9 and 10 we read that the sons of Aaron were killed by God for bringing something extra and not approved by God to the altar in their censers. God took their lives right there, just as He took those of Ananias and Sapphira for their deception and withholding when they were in the temple.
Deuteronomy 4:2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.
I hope you are beginning to see the pattern that the Scripture teaches. God clearly shows, wrote, and teaches that things must be done His way as He has directed!
The humanistic tendencies of mankind seek to insert ourselves in everything including true doctrine, and even Scripture.
Many years ago I was driving home from Memphis. During the three and a half hour drive, for seemingly no reason I began to notice church signs (and in this part of the world there is no shortage).
The thing that became very clear and heartbreaking was just how divided we are as Christians. Through my experience, I knew that all these separate named places seldom, or maybe never, interacted in any way and many were even at odds with one another for what was mostly unknown and false reasoning.
People are guilty of taking one small section of Scripture and forming a religious branch around the small section or even of just a few verses; of forming denominational branches and doctrines segregating themselves instead of uniting under the doctrine of Scripture, some even to the point of denominational doctrines that oppose the words of Christ.
These build opposing views and beliefs, many of which are based on ignorance rather than Scripture. Is this not the same reason Aaron’s sons died? Are doctrines aside from the doctrine of Scripture equivalent to bringing something God did not authorize to the altar?
Some may scoff at what I have written here, but the Word clearly teaches that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. God never changes, and just because He has not yet poured His wrath on those bringing unacceptable things into the church does not mean it will not happen. God is long-suffering, He is not forgetful, and He does not change!
Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone!) doctrines cannot look sort of like Scripture; they cannot just resemble Scripture. The Church was based on one thing only: Jesus is the Son of The Living God! It was upon that rock that Christ established the Church, and Christ was the living Word! Not part of the Word, not kind of resembling the Word, but the Living Word!
In John 1:1 we are told, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was beside God, and the Word was God! The Gospel teaches that Jesus sits at the right hand of God—beside Him—and since Christ sits at the right hand of God and He is the Word, then the Church was founded on the Word. Not a portion of the Word, nor a facsimile thereof, but of the whole Word.
We are told clearly in 1 Peter 1, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
How will we explain our division, the empty seats in our gatherings, our man-made doctrines, to our Lord Jesus? Are these questions even being asked? We will have to answer for them. Sure, we can always blame the other guy, but I feel that will not be acceptable.
We were given the Word, and that alone is sufficient!
I hope this writing has given you pause for thought and causes you to examine the foundations of what we refer to as the Christian faith in these times.
Salvation is something God does in us and for us, not something in any way we do for ourselves. - Charles Spurgeon
Kenneth Kellar
A Man Called by God to Teach and Disciple